Re: OP Report

Posted by Jeff R. on 2010-04-01 14:58:11
in reply to Re: OP Report posted by Greg Mau on 2010-04-01 11:32:17

Greg, if anglers (like the original poster here) are willing to drive from California all the way to Washington for some fishing, then you can rest assured that people are driving from other places outside of Pugetropolis to do the same. To claim that internet reports have no effect on fishing is just silly. The reverse has been borne out time and time again. Not flaming, but a statement of fact. People are lazy and eye-candy is great motivation.

close friends who have long fished the OP tell me that the number of out-of-state licence places has skyrocketed this year. I expect much of this has to do with the "English Pete" photos sent around last year, as well as the general upsurge of interest (fueled by media, internet, and industry) associated with spey-rod steelheading.

Californians are not often too welcome on OR and WA water, which is unfortunate in some respects, as traveling steelheaders from California are often among the most ardent conservationists (having lost the opportunity to save their own fisheries years ago). Still, the traveling California angler is an automatic target of some discontent up north, and it certainly doesn't help when these visitors violate the law (even in the spirit of conservation) by blatantly posing for photos with fish out of water.